New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-01-02
PRISONERS OF POVERTY.
WOMEN WAGE-wORKERS. THEIR TRADES
AND THEIR LIVES.
BY HELEN CAMPBELL
Vt

the West is newer and thus escapes the inherited
mscries that hedge about life in such regions as
the Fourth Ward There, where old New-1or'
once centred and where Dutch gables and dormci
windows may still be seen, is not only thc ioui
ness of the present. each nationality III inc swarm
inc tenements representing distinct type OF art
and a distinct method of dealing with it and in it,
but the foulncsS also of the paSC' Ill decay aho
mould and crimbling wall and all silent forces OF
destruction at work here for generation and
more Those Of us who have watched the evolu
ton of the Fourth Ward into show of dc
eency recognize many causes having worked
toward the same end, yet even when one notes to
Eav the changes wrought. first by business the
march Of which has wired out many former land
marks. setting in their place great warehouses and
factories. and then of philanthropy. which, as il
the case of Miss Collinss tcncments, has trans
formed dens into some semblance oil
BONES, there remains the conviction
ahat dens uppermost still. The
business man hur1ying down Fulton or Beellman
ST.. the myrads who pass up and down in the
various East Side car lines, with those other myr
lads who cross the great Bridge, have small con
certiOn what thousands are packed away in the
great tenemcnts and the rOollerics even more
crowded. or what depth of vleness flaunts itself
nreny when day is done and the creatures of
shadow come out to the light that for many quar-,
tcls is the only sunshine. This ward has had min
ate and faithful description from one of the
most energetic Of workers for better sanitary con
ftiOns among the poor-Mr. Charles Wingate.
whose admirable papers on tenement House
life" published by THE TRIBUNE in 1Ss4'S5,
must be regarded authority for the sanitary
phases of the question Little by little these
have bothered tin the death rate has come within
normal limits and the percentage of crime ceased
to represent the largest portion of the inhabitants
Net here, on this familiar battle-ground. cviliza-
ton and something worse than mere barbarism
still struggle. For which Is the victory?
Under the great Bridge whose piers have taken
the place of much that was fOuest in the Fourth
Ward stands tenement house so Swallowed by
the structure that. save at midday, natural light
barely penetrates it. The inhabitants are Of all
grades and all nationaties. The chiefly
rongshoremen, working internationally on the
wharves, varying this occupation by long seasons
of drinking, during which every pawnable article
vanishcs, to be gradually redeemed altogether
lost according to the energy with which work is
resumed. The women scrub Offices peddlc fruit
or small Office necessities, take in wash
ing, share many Of them, in the drinking bouts
and are, as q whole content with brutishness,
only vaguely conscious of q wretchedness that, So
methods The same roof covers many who yield
to none Of these temptations but are working pa
tiently some of them widows with children that
must be fed few solitary but banding with
ncighbOrs in cloak or pantaloon making, or the
many forms OF slop-work in the hands Of sweaters.
Sunshine has no place in these rooms which no
forced laws have made decent, and where occasion
al Individual effort has small power against the
unspealiable filth ruling in tangible and intangi-
bic forms, sink and sewer and closet uniting in IA
common and allpervading stencil The chance
visitor has sometimes to rush to the outer air.
deadly sick and faint at even a breath of this
noisomeness. The most determined one feels in
clined to burn every garment worn during such
quest. and wonders if Abana Pharpar or even
Jordan itself could carry healing and cleansing III
their floods.
The dark halls have other uses than as rcccp-
taces for refuse or filth. Hiding behind doors or
IN corners or, grown bolder seeking no conceal
mcnt, children hardly more than babies teach one
another such new facts of foulness as may so far
have CHANGED DO escape them-baby voices reciting
q ritual Of oaths and Obscenity learned in this In
fcrno which. could it have place by Dante's, might
be better known 10 a cultured generation Only
Zola could describe deliberately what any eye
may see. but any minute detail Of which would
excite an outbuist of popular indignation. Yet
am by no means certain that such detail has not
far more right to space than much that fills our
morning papers and that the plain bald statement
of facts. shorn Of all fights Of fancy or play Of
,facetiOusneSs. might not rouse the public to some
lsrnse Of what lie. below the surface Of this fair
seeming civilization Of to-day Not alone in the
shadow of the great pier, but wherever men and
women must herd like brutcs. these things exist
and shape the little lives that missions do not
and Us yet cannot reach. and that we prefer to
deal with later when actual violation Of laws
has laced them in the hands Of the State. Work
as she may, the woman who must find home for
herself and children In such surroundings is power
less to protect them from the all leryading foul
ness. They may escape a portion Of the actual
degradation. They can never escape q knowledge
the possibility Of which is unknown TO what we
can barbarism. but part and parcel Of the daily
life Of ii, Utilization
Granted Instantly That only tie lowest order VI
worker must submit to such conditions vet we
have seen that this lowest order is lcyion; that
It's numbers increase with every day, and that 20
Board Of Health Of Sanitary INSPECTORS has VT
been able DO alter. save here and there the &. Us
that are a portion Of the tenement house system.
1t is chiefly with the house unier the Bridge
That we shall deal to-day. It's upper rooms hold
many workers whose testimony has helped to make
plain how nle East side lives Little by little,
as tie blocks of granite swung into place and the
great Ticr grew, the sunshine vanished, its
warmth ana lieht replaced by the electric glow
COLI and hard and binding. The days work has
ceased 10 be The days work, and The women who
cannot afford the Gas oil that must burn if they
work in the daytime, sleep while day lasts, AMI
when niSht comes and the electric light pcne-
tratcs every corner Of the shadOyy rooms turn 10
the toll by which their bread is won Never was
deeper satire upon the civilization of which VIC
bogst Natural law. natural living, abolished once
for all ard tins light that blinds bit holds no
cheer shining upon the mass Of weary humanity
who have forgotten what sunshine may mean and
who know no JOY chat life was meano to holdi
In one Of these rooms clean. if cleanliness were